Enigma
by Artisan Kloa
Summary: The chicks that hatched under Yunza's care were mostly ordinary... apart from two. Prequel to Clandestine.


Enigma

Author's Note: This is a sort of prequel to Clandestine, and the second story in this … series? Can it be called that, really? Anyway, this little story will be shorter than Clandestine, and tells a bit on Xantippe's chickhood. Yes. Lightans are called 'chicks' when they are young. Like birds. Most of them have bird-like features anyway, and they live with birds.

Disclaimer- I own not the nightmaren, nor the concept of them, the dream gate, or anything else that's canon, including characters. All I own is the theory and concept of Lightans, and all Lightan characters and other OCs in this fic, unless otherwise noted.

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To be born is a wonderful end to a long journey… but what is one end is the start of another. Not that a light would know, it has always been.

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The birth of a clutch of eggs was due. Oh yes, it was due, and many were GLAD. It'd been three years, a long gestation for the younglings in the shells. But around average, to be honest, most eggs did gestate this long. Curled around the eggs was a member of the Lightan Forces, called Yunza. His long, whiplike tail curved naturally around the cloud-made nest, the material soft and warm. And yellow.

He was there to care for the younglings, until their first molting. There had been a fortune told by an old and highly respected Light Bird, called Fiona. She had predicted that a chick from this particular clutch would be … important one day. But the way the old bird had predicted it, it was like the chick wasn't going to be important in a usual manner.

Yunza was half-way through a Trance when the first rattles of the eggshells came to him. He jolted awake, looking down on the wriggling eggs. They clacked and clicked as they bumped into each other. There were around seven or so eggs in this clutch, some streaked with white or yellow or blue, apart from that nondescript little egg that laid still. Yunza believed this one to be a false egg, it occasionally happened, the egg would be infertile and cold. Devoid of life.

But as the other eggs began to crack and break open, he turned his attentions away from the cream-colored egg, and onto the emerging, damp younglings. The chicks were born small and wet, eyes closed and mouths open wide, emitting high chirps and squeals. A plea for food, attention, or some warmth, or all of them really. He could already see some attributes in a few. One was mostly bluish white, another was a sandy yellow color. They all had pale, almost translucent skin that showed veins underneath, pulsing with the silver essence of life.

There were six hatchlings in all, mostly male, with four males, and two females. The two females were both green-tinted. One male was yellow, another blue, and the final two were red. Not a white to be seen, but then again, sometimes blues turned out being whites because they were cold when hatched. He gently gathered the damp and sticky young together, toweling them off while his tail beat out a quick signal on the marble-like cloud of the Hatchery. Others needed to be told that the eggs had hatched. After the final chick had been mostly toweled clean, he heard something over the squealing chirps of the hatchlings.

A click-clicking noise, followed by a flumph, from the nest. Turning, he half-worried that there was some small lizard or something thieving a chick… but that was not the case. Surrounded by now-aware chicks, the final, cold egg was hatching. Yunza was surprised, setting down the red male, who squawked at the lack of the final removal of dampness. The egg cracked open, spilling out a final chick, who was blue, female, and already awake. Her eyes were open, like the older chicks, and were a bright blue, like theirs. After all, all chicks had blue eyes when they were hatched, it was natural.

Yunza picked up the blue chick, which was a bit stunted and small, and began to towel it off. Placing it back in the nest it popped up amongst its bigger flockmates, its family. Yunza immediately wrote this one off as not being the one the prediction told of. It was too small, and fairly ordinary, apart from being late.

He took a shine to the yellow male, the most interesting looking one of the group. He was larger, and had an almost bear-like build for a chick, which was strange. Mammals weren't unheard of, in Lightans, but they were very rare and were usually bats. The red already had wing-stubs, though whether they were draconic or bird was to be seen. The two greens had settled down with some planty aspects, little green buds of flesh on their wrists and arms. The blues had thin tails, longish for chicks… except the female blue, hers was short and nubby.

She was also attempting to crawl over the rim of the nest, only to find herself being lifted and plunked down next to her green siblings. She didn't look put out though, as she attempted again, only to get the same result. Yunza looked at her as she tried again, perhaps she was dim? No, there was a spark of intellectual method to her explorations. She was curious.

That could be troublesome in an adult, but for now it could be overlooked. Either way, as other, more matronly Lightans appeared, she was ordinary. Not a big fuss for now, nor would she ever be, most likely.

Yunza stood, stretching out as he did. "They're all yours, hatchers. I'd keep an eye on the yellow and the female blue, they are ... different. The blue not as much as the yellow though." He stated, walking away while the Hatchers scurried to get the chicks dressed and fed.

A few weeks later, Yunza reported back to look over the fledgling flock. Tradition dictated that the Lightan present at the birth of the flock would be their instructor and carer until they could 'graduate' to a new carer, at a later date.

Upon entry, he found that they were behaving as they should. Walking and stumbling around, playing with toys and babbling with each other. This would form a close knit interdependence. He saw that the two greens wanted almost nothing to do with the blue female, who seemed to be playing alone, with a toy bird.

The boisterous males were play-wrestling, with the yellow coming out on top mostly. The two blues weren't taking it though, and were pitching a mild fit. The red was merely duking his way to the top. As of yet, they had no names, and were merely addressed by color and gender. It was Yunza's job to give them their titles.

Yunza cleared his throat, gathering their attention. They scurried over, though it took the blue girl a moment to get there. He knelt, so they were easier to address. They could already speak and run and behave mostly at the level of a two-year-old Dreamer. Lightans did grow quickly until their first molt.

"Today, you will be given titles. These are your names, until your dying day. They reflect upon you, and your personas until this point. You may not like them later when you are grown. But they will always be yours, and the thing that is solely yours, above all other things." Yunza said, sitting so that they felt more comfortable. They looked at them, their eyes already expressing the colors that they'd one-day be.

He began with the yellow, "You are to be called Quaren, for your strength. It is a bold name, for a bold bear." He said, looking at the greenish-blue eyed male. The green females were dubbed, "Kateyn, for your observance." And "Matena, for your glee."

The red was called, "Feyiiro, for your bravery." The two blues were called, "Orion and Leyhay, for your cosmic togetherness." It was then that Yunza recalled the blue female, who was sitting in the back of the flock. The other chicks turned to look at her.

"What is she called?" Feyiiro asked, pointing. Yunza looked down on the little blue. "You are to be called Xantippe… for your curiosity." He said. In a way, the name was a fitting insult. To be curious was to be a changer, in the eyes of Leader Celerity. That was bad. Celerity, for all her wondrousness, was very firmly set in her beliefs and ways on how things were to be done.

And to be different and curious was not a good thing. But the little chicks didn't know this, and Xantippe beamed with delight at her new name. "I like it." She said simply. The others looked at her strangely.

"Her name's longest." Kateyn remarked.

"It's very pretty though…" Metena added.

"Weird's more like it." Orion commented with an approving nod from Leyhay.

Feyiiro only snorted while Quaren looked unimpressed. He knew he was the best out of all of them, after all, and no little female was going to change that. Yunza could already see trouble and turmoil for the little female… and he had only been in the room for ten minutes.

Author's End Notes: Weeelll, how do you like the first chapter of Enigma? Real shoddy, am I right? –NO. CONFIDENCE.-

Reviews would be appreciated as always.


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